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Swiss Banks Have Paid $1.24 Billion

NEW YORK — Holocaust survivors and victims' heirs have received $1.24 billion from a Swiss fund set up in 1998 following a scandal over dormant accounts of Jews killed in World War II, according to a Swiss Jewish weekly.

Tachles said the figure appeared in a report by New York Judge Edward Korman, who oversees the management of the fund.

Korman’s report summed up operations since the landmark deal was signed between the World Jewish Congress and Swiss banks.

The banks were accused of keeping money owned by Jews who had hidden funds in secret accounts in neutral Switzerland but then perished in the Holocaust, and of stonewalling heirs who tried to track down the money.

Under the accord, the $1.25 billion settlement was transformed into U.S. government bonds. Payouts were then overseen by Korman and the Swiss-based Claims Resolution Tribunal, which wrapped up its operations in 2012.

All told, 457,000 Holocaust survivors and heirs have therefore received money from the fund.